I think the best season finale in the entire Star Trek television franchise has to be the two-part “Endgame” for Voyager.
Capt. Kathryn Janeway in a battle across time with the Borg queen, a race to either destroy the queen and her empire-enabling transwarp hub, or get Janeway’s crew home safe, finally, to the alpha quadrant. (Or, rather, Janeways — her present and future selves.)
Truly one of television’s greatest finale match-ups between two strong, er, female characters. (The omnisexual Borg queen transcended gender, even back then.)
Of course, that episode would not be the same without the iconic Borg queen, played in the Voyager finale by the actor Alice Krige, who created the character’s malevolently sensual control freak aura. All the actors who subsequently played the Borg queen across the film and television series franchise had to emulate her performance.
AV Club interviewed Kriger about her many roles before and since the Borg queen, and about bringing the queen to life across mediums.
AVC: Your Star Trek experience was unique in that you were able to play the Borg Queen for more than one movie. How rewarding did it feel to stay with that character over the course of time and watch her evolve?
AK: It was very terrifying, frankly, to shift mediums, to shift from an enormous screen down to a television screen. I thought to myself, “Will she even work in this little space?” Two nights before, it dawned on me that I was working with two women and not two men. I called the producer and said, “She’s with two women.” He said, “Don’t worry. Think of her as omnisexual.” And I thought, “OK.” It was only after that I realized I didn’t know what omnisexual was. It was wonderful to experience her in a completely different context. And, quite frankly, no matter how many times they get rid of her, I think they are kidding themselves. She’s out there. She was created. She cannot be destroyed. What a fascinating character she is. I have never asked them, and I would love to know, if they had any idea she was going to become an absolute archetype. I had no idea whether they knew. I certainly didn’t. By the time they had put on the make-up and the suit, and I looked in the mirror, it wasn’t me anymore. I really did feel like I was just a channel and the Borg Queen walked up, did her thing and left.
AVC: Whether it’s a role like Veronica or the Borg Queen or the cat creature Mary in Sleepwalkers, how delicious is it to be around all the special effects make-up and the prosthetics and the gore?
AK: They have become so sophisticated now. The Borg Queen … what Scott Wheeler, who designed the head and the makeup, gave me … was an extraordinary gift. Think about it. You can’t imagine her separate from what she looked like. Not at all. I couldn’t have shown up and been the Borg Queen. That would have been ludicrous. That was who she was. I was given that. Film is the most collaborative of arts. I have been so blessed to work with the most generous and creative of collaboratives. It just goes on and on, the number of riches that I have been given by people I was working with. Special effects, prosthetics, if they are beautifully executed can be a doorway into a different reality.
You can read the rest of the interview at this link.
Below is a clip with the penultimate scene in “Endgame.” (Spoiler alert!)